Car bomb attack hits Chinese workers in Pakistan

Times:

China was reminded of the harsh realities of its newly acquired status as a global power yesterday when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of its workers in Pakistan.

At least 30 people were killed when a vehicle laden with explosives was detonated as the convoy carrying 60 Chinese rumbled through a market town near Karachi. Seven policemen and many bystanders died in the blast, which ripped through a bazaar and shops. However, the buses carrying the workers escaped serious damage.

Pakistani security forces said they were certain that the Chinese were the targets of the attack, and Chinese in Pakistan were urged to be on their guard against more violence. The suicide bombing was the second attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan in less than a month. Suspected Islamic militants killed three Chinese engineers near the northwestern city of Peshawar earlier this month.

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Pakistani security forces have stepped up protection for the 3,000 Chinese working on development projects across the country since the siege and assault on Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque.

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The reasons for the attacks range from racism, jingoism to religious bigotry which is the root cause of most Islamic terrorism. In the twisted minds of the Islamist, they may blame the Chinese for the attack on the Red Mosque, because religious bigots from the mosque held some Chinese women hostage for a while and accused them of prostitution. For Islamic religious bigots, it does not take much of a reason to engage in mass murder for Allah.